Tesla (TSLA) is going on a salesforce hiring spree as demand is expected to ramp up in the US.
However, the automaker is focusing on part-time positions to cut costs.
Sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla is embarking on a new hiring spree for sales staff in North America.
The hiring spree is starting to be reflected in Tesla’s job listings, with now over 250 new sales positions listed in North America – many added recently.
More job listings are expected to be added in the coming weeks.
The positions are mostly for “Tesla Advisor,” “Gallery Advisor,” and other sales positions.
The new hiring spree comes as demand for electric vehicles is ramping up in the US, and Tesla’s sales, in particular, are expected to boom with a reform of electric vehicle incentives.
Tesla buyers haven’t had access to the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles for years now.
That’s due to a limit of 200,000 deliveries of electric vehicles per manufacturer in the US, which Tesla was the first to reach.
It disadvantages automakers who were early in delivering electric vehicles in volumes, but there’s currently an effort to reform the EV incentive program and remove the cap of 200,000 electric vehicles.
The latest proposal would increase the incentive to up to $12,500, and it would stay in place until electric cars reach a 50% market share of new passenger car sales in the US.
While it might not be the final form of the new incentive, a version of it is expected to be adopted later this year.
Tesla sales haven’t slowed down in the US without access to the incentive despite being at a disadvantage with the competition.
With a reform to the incentive program, Tesla’s sales are anticipated to boom in the US, and now, the automaker is preparing for it by bolstering its salesforce.
However, sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla is focusing on part-time sales jobs in order to cut costs.
Part-time employees have fewer benefits, and Tesla is also not supplying them with laptops and cell phones.
Tesla had a similar approach in another hiring spree last year, and it put in place a path for those workers to become full-time sales and delivery employees at the company.
Electrek’s Take
It’s hard to accurately gauge the impact of the Tesla buyers getting back access to a federal EV incentive, but I believe it is going to be quite significant.
But it most likely will be production constrained depending on the ramp-up at Gigafactory Texas.
The announcement alone of a new EV incentive is likely to bring a lot of people to Tesla stores and other dealerships selling EVs.
I bet it’s going to be hard to find an EV for sale in the US toward the end of the year.
As for the part-time jobs, I think it makes sense. These are still good jobs, especially for students, and Tesla can promote the best employees to full-time positions with benefits later on.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.